Click to erase

Click to draw

Select drawing to start editing

Business Analytics: 2.2.3 Avoiding Bias

2.2.3 Avoiding Bias

A common way to collect information about a population is to conduct a survey. That is, a researcher asks questions of a randomly selected sample from the population. Conducting a survey raises problems that can be surprisingly tricky to resolve. Consider how we phrase our questions. Is there bias in the phrasing that might lead participants to answer the questions in a certain way? Are any questions worded ambiguously? If some of the people in the sample interpret a question one way, and others interpret it differently, the survey’s results will be meaningless.

Determine whether the following questions are biased or unbiased.

Items

Cold Call

You were not selected to take this cold call. Please review other students' responses below.

Rewrite the following biased question to create an unbiased version of it:

Most new car owners purchased an extended warranty from the dealership. Are you going to buy one?

See what your peers answered

off

0 2
George

We are offering an extended warranty (from the dealership. Do you own a car, and if so, do you want to buy one?

May 29, 2019 AT 03:16 PM ET | (0)

2
0 0
Karla Angélica

are you thinking about buying an extended warranty from the dealership?

7 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 1
Sadhbh

Are you going to purchase an extended warranty from the dealership when you buy a new car?

Tuesday AT 11:10 AM ET | (0)

1
1 1
Rohan

Would you buy an extended warranty on a new car, directly from the dealership?

Friday AT 04:46 PM ET | (1)

1
2 0
Yibai

Yes, I will purchase the extended warranty to guarantee my car is fully covered.

Friday AT 11:27 AM ET | (2)

0
4 17
Avaneesh

On a scale of 1 to 10, what is the probability that you would purchase an extended warranty from the dealership when you purchase a new car?

May 22, 2019 AT 09:03 AM ET | (4)

17
0 1
Laura

Did you purchased an extended warranty when you bought your new car?

Are you going to purchase the extended warranty available for your new car?

Saturday AT 09:33 PM ET | (0)

1
0 7
Cameron

If you were to purchase a new car, would you buy an extended warranty?

May 25, 2019 AT 09:20 AM ET | (0)

7
0 4
Fatima

Should new car owners purchase a warranty?

Tuesday AT 12:21 AM ET | (0)

4
1 2
Isorn

Are you going to buy extended warranty from dealership when you buy a new car?

May 29, 2019 AT 05:53 AM ET | (1)

2
0 1
Samir

Are you interested in buying an extended warranty from your new car?

Sunday AT 01:21 PM ET | (0)

1
0 9
Jessica

Would you purchase the extended warranty when buying a new car?

May 29, 2019 AT 08:57 PM ET | (0)

9
1 19
Zachary

When you next buy a new car, do you plan to purchase an extended warranty from the dealership?

May 22, 2019 AT 07:14 PM ET | (1)

19
0 1
Mark

Do you wish to purchase an extended warranty from the car dealership?

Tuesday AT 03:20 PM ET | (0)

1
0 0
Christian

Are you going to buy an extended warranty from the dealership for your new car?

Sunday AT 04:17 PM ET | (0)

0
0 1
Michael

Are you going to buy an extended warranty from the car dealership?

Monday AT 10:09 PM ET | (0)

1
0 1
Bounyadej

Should car owners purchase an extended warranty from the dealership?

Tuesday AT 05:46 PM ET | (0)

1
0 4
Min Kyung

Once you become a new car owner, are you going to purchase an extended warranty from the dealership?

Thursday AT 03:23 PM ET | (0)

4
0 1
Levio

Would you like to purchase an extended warranty for your new car?

7 Hrs Ago | (0)

1
0 0
Robert

If you are a new car owner, will you purchase an extended warranty from the dealership?

5 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
3 17
Tabitha

Would you purchase an extended warranty when buying a new car from a dealership?

May 21, 2019 AT 10:08 PM ET | (3)

17
0 1
Nodirabegim

Are you planning to purchase an extended warranty if you buy a new car?

Tuesday AT 10:25 PM ET | (0)

1
0 0
Viditi

I see you have recently bought a new car. Are you going to purchase an extended warranty from your car dealership?

9 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 1
Rogelio

Have you considered purchasing an extended warranty from a dealership when buying a vehicle?

Tuesday AT 10:25 PM ET | (0)

1

Scroll in the box to view more responses.

Cold Call

You were not selected to take this cold call. Please review other students' responses below.

Rewrite the following biased question to create an unbiased version of it:

Should we have stricter gun laws to prevent school shootings?

See what your peers answered

off

0 8
Magdalena

Do you believe that stricter gun laws should be implemented?

May 25, 2019 AT 10:50 AM ET | (0)

8
1 0
Machannagari Sai Pranav

Should we have gun laws to prevent school shootings?

Tuesday AT 02:05 PM ET | (1)

0
0 1
Thomas

Should we have stricter gun laws?

Tuesday AT 10:03 AM ET | (0)

1
0 1
Rawaida Binti

Should we have stricter gun laws?

Saturday AT 11:15 PM ET | (0)

1
0 0
Gavin

Are strict gun laws likely to prevent school shootlings?

Saturday AT 07:24 AM ET | (0)

0
0 5
Isaac

Should the US Government enact more strict gun laws into law?

Friday AT 06:04 PM ET | (0)

5
0 1
Goeran

Do you think laws should make it easier to acquire guns, are the current laws good as they are, or should it be made harder to acquire guns?

May 26, 2019 AT 05:07 AM ET | (0)

1
1 6
Joshua

Should we have stricter gun laws?

May 29, 2019 AT 04:29 PM ET | (1)

6
1 1
Gabriel

What do you think it should be done to prevent school shootings?

May 26, 2019 AT 03:31 PM ET | (1)

1
1 6
Neil

Should we have stricter gun laws?

May 29, 2019 AT 07:08 PM ET | (1)

6
0 5
Aradhya

Should gun laws become stricter in the future?

May 27, 2019 AT 03:08 PM ET | (0)

5
1 0
Danny

Will stricter gun laws prevent shootings, such as school shootings?

Monday AT 11:55 PM ET | (1)

0
0 3
Amritagandha

Should we have stricter gun laws?

Sunday AT 05:56 AM ET | (0)

3
0 1
Ramya

Do you think we should impose stricter gun laws ?

May 24, 2019 AT 01:30 PM ET | (0)

1
0 3
Amarjeet

Should we have stricter gun laws?

Sunday AT 10:40 PM ET | (0)

3
2 0
Marcus

With growing numbers of school shootings, legislators have debated on whether or not to enact stricter gun laws. What is your take?

Saturday AT 04:36 PM ET | (2)

0
0 0
Ankit

Should we have stricter gun laws? OR
Are less stringent gun laws are the main reason for school shootings?

Monday AT 11:24 PM ET | (0)

0
7 6
Eun Young

What do you think we need to do to prevent school shootings?

May 25, 2019 AT 04:47 PM ET | (7)

6
0 3
Robyn

Do you think our gun laws need to be more strict?

Monday AT 05:51 PM ET | (0)

3
1 0
Maya

If we were to have stricter gun laws, would this prevent school shootings?

Sunday AT 07:47 AM ET | (1)

0
0 0
YOGESH KUMAR

What we should do to have stricter gun laws to prevent school shootings ?

Monday AT 07:34 AM ET | (0)

0
0 1
Kwabena Tontoh

What should we do about gun laws?

Monday AT 12:17 PM ET | (0)

1
4 0
aisha

To prevent school shootings, do we need stricter gun laws?

Saturday AT 02:15 PM ET | (4)

0
3 11
Christian

Do you support stricter gun control laws?

May 24, 2019 AT 08:33 AM ET | (3)

11
0 2
Robert

Should we have stricter gun laws?

Monday AT 04:31 PM ET | (0)

2
0 0
Yadi

Do you feel that the country's gun laws cause school shootings?

19 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 3
Vinayak

Should gun laws be made stricter?

May 29, 2019 AT 03:22 PM ET | (0)

3
1 6
Aoibheann

Should guns laws be stricter?

May 24, 2019 AT 12:24 PM ET | (1)

6
0 1
Brandon

Should we have stricter gun laws?

Tuesday AT 05:52 PM ET | (0)

1
1 7
Michael

Should gun laws be stricter?

May 25, 2019 AT 01:25 PM ET | (1)

7
0 1
Kelly

Should we have stricter gun laws?
or
Do you think that stricter gun laws would prevent school shootings?
or
Do you think that gun laws connected to school shootings?

Tuesday AT 01:02 PM ET | (0)

1
3 12
Matthew

Should we have stricter gun laws? (I got rid of the part about school shootings because I think that part of the question will create bias. By mentioning "school shootings", I think people will be primed to support stricter gun laws.)

May 22, 2019 AT 04:05 PM ET | (3)

12
1 4
Megan

Should gun laws be stricter?

May 28, 2019 AT 10:12 PM ET | (1)

4
2 6
Han Pin

Should gun laws be changed to be stricter or less strict?

May 24, 2019 AT 08:12 PM ET | (2)

6
1 0
Aditi

Do you think our gun laws are strict?

Saturday AT 12:12 AM ET | (1)

0
0 6
Melissa

Do you think we should have stricter gun laws?

Friday AT 11:34 AM ET | (0)

6
0 1
Jenny

Should we have stricter gun laws?

21 Hrs Ago | (0)

1
0 0
Matthew

Should we have stricter gun laws?

25 Mins Ago | (0)

0
0 0
Jun

What should we do to prevent school shooting?

5 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 2
Daniel

Should we have stricter gun laws?

Tuesday AT 09:53 AM ET | (0)

2
1 2
Dale

Do you believe that stricter gun laws would prevent school shootings?

Sunday AT 11:52 AM ET | (1)

2
0 3
Kate

Would you support stricter gun laws?

Tuesday AT 04:38 AM ET | (0)

3
0 10
Alejandro

Should we have stricter gun laws?

May 29, 2019 AT 10:28 PM ET | (0)

10
0 0
Josselyn

Do you think the gun laws should be stricter in regards of age license?

Tuesday AT 11:58 AM ET | (0)

0
0 0
Cailen

Do think gun laws affect the rate of school shootings that occur?

Saturday AT 03:15 PM ET | (0)

0
0 5
SAJAL

Should we have stricter Gun laws ?

May 29, 2019 AT 06:41 PM ET | (0)

5
0 0
Gabriel

Do you believe that school shootings can be reduced by introducing stricter gun laws?

17 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 3
Justin

Do you believe that the United States would benefit from stricter gun laws?

Friday AT 05:40 PM ET | (0)

3
0 3
Diambra

Should stricter gun laws be introduced?

May 29, 2019 AT 06:26 PM ET | (0)

3

Cold Call

You were not selected to take this cold call. Please review other students' responses below.

Rewrite the following biased question to create an unbiased version of it:

Childhood obesity is on the rise. Do you think kids spend too many hours playing computer games?

See what your peers answered

off

0 6
Hamidah

Could spending too many hours playing computer games be a reason for the rise in Childhood obesity?

May 29, 2019 AT 10:00 PM ET | (0)

6
0 0
Stephen

Would reducing the amount of time kids spend playing video games reduce obesity?

14 Mins Ago | (0)

0
2 4
Timothy

Do you think kids spend too many hours playing computer games?

Friday AT 06:30 PM ET | (2)

4
0 0
Ryan

Do kids spend too long playing computer games?

9 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 1
Leonardo

Do you think kids spend too many hours playing computer games?

9 Hrs Ago | (0)

1
0 5
Tamara

Do kids spend too many hours playing computer games?

Friday AT 09:46 PM ET | (0)

5
0 1
Siti Rozanna binti

Are kids spending too many hours playing video games?

Monday AT 12:09 AM ET | (0)

1
0 1
Dorie

Should computer game playing time be monitored and limited for children?

Tuesday AT 12:14 PM ET | (0)

1
5 16
Sahithya Reddy

Do you think kids spend too many hours playing computer games?

May 21, 2019 AT 10:46 PM ET | (5)

16
0 2
Luke

Do you think that the amount of time children spend playing computer games is
A) Too much
B) The right amount
C) Too little

Tuesday AT 06:51 PM ET | (0)

2
1 11
James

Do kids spend too long playing video games? (The prior mention of childhood obesity is a very priming statement that will influence the response.)

May 28, 2019 AT 03:50 PM ET | (1)

11
0 5
SIYAO

Do you think kids spend too many hours playing computer games?

Sunday AT 09:39 PM ET | (0)

5
0 1
Patrick

Do you think kids spend too much time playing computer games? or Do you think kids are active enough?

Monday AT 05:15 PM ET | (0)

1
0 0
Chukwuemeka

What do you think is the reason for childhood obesity?

35 Mins Ago | (0)

0
0 3
Alexander

Do you believe that children spend too much time playing computer games?

Tuesday AT 10:22 AM ET | (0)

3
0 1
Devendra

Do you think kids spend too many hours playing computer games? (I removed chidlhood obesity is on rise because it raises a bias that may lead to understand that computer games be root cause of obesity which may create a bias)

Monday AT 02:39 PM ET | (0)

1
1 1
Erik

1. How many hours a day do your kids spend playing computer games?
2. How many hours a day would you like your kids to spend playing computer games?

Sunday AT 06:26 PM ET | (1)

1
5 7
Rza

Do you think that spending too many hours playing computer games may cause childhood obesity?

May 22, 2019 AT 06:18 AM ET | (5)

7
1 5
Arend

Do you think kids spend too many hours playing computer games?

Friday AT 09:00 PM ET | (1)

5
4 19
Edvina

Do you think kids spend many hours playing computer games?

May 23, 2019 AT 04:24 PM ET | (4)

19
0 0
Rajan

Do you think kids spend too many hours playing computer games?

6 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 1
Robert

Do you believe children spent too much time playing computer games?

Monday AT 04:14 PM ET | (0)

1
0 0
Runa

Do you think kids spend more hours playing computer games would cause them overweight?

Tuesday AT 12:47 AM ET | (0)

0
0 1
Andrea

Is the time spent playing computer games associated with the increase of childhood obesity?

Monday AT 11:10 PM ET | (0)

1

Scroll in the box to view more responses.

Cold Call

You were not selected to take this cold call. Please review other students' responses below.

Rewrite the following biased question to create an unbiased version of it:

Secondhand smoke can cause cancer. Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?

See what your peers answered

off

0 3
Javier

Do you think that smoking should be banned from restaurants and other public spaces?

Do you think that by banning smoking in restaurants and other public places there will be fewer cancer patients?

Monday AT 05:39 PM ET | (0)

3
0 0
Jay

Do you think smoking should be banned form restaurants and other public spaces?

Tuesday AT 05:49 PM ET | (0)

0
0 6
Timmoneshia

Should smoking be banned from restaurants and other public places?

May 29, 2019 AT 08:51 PM ET | (0)

6
0 0
Tian

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?

22 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 1
Sharon

Should we ban smoking from public and private spaces?

Sunday AT 09:52 PM ET | (0)

1
0 1
Alik

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?

Tuesday AT 04:48 PM ET | (0)

1
0 1
Lauren

Would you want smoking to be banned from public spaces and restaurants?

Monday AT 04:05 PM ET | (0)

1
0 1
Tiffany

Should we ban people from smoking in public spaces such as a restaurant?

Monday AT 01:49 PM ET | (0)

1
0 3
Trent

Do you think smoking should be banned from restaurants and other public spaces?

Sunday AT 01:46 PM ET | (0)

3
0 6
KANLIN

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?

May 27, 2019 AT 03:08 AM ET | (0)

6
0 1
Theo

Should smoking in public be illegal?

Tuesday AT 08:26 PM ET | (0)

1
0 2
Chloe

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?

Saturday AT 03:58 PM ET | (0)

2
3 6
Haeyoon

Do you think secondhand smoke is prevalent social phenomenon in these days? Do you think secondhand smoke adversely influence on people's health? Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?

May 24, 2019 AT 11:04 AM ET | (3)

6
0 2
Daragh

Should smoking be banned from restaurants and other public spaces?

Sunday AT 09:00 AM ET | (0)

2
2 2
Fernanda

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?
or
What do you think we should do to prevent secondhand smoking?

Friday AT 10:26 AM ET | (2)

2
0 4
Olga

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?

Sunday AT 08:27 AM ET | (0)

4
0 7
Alix

Should smoking be permitted in public spaces?

Friday AT 08:59 PM ET | (0)

7
0 1
Victoria

Should smoking be banned from restaurants and other public spaces?

7 Hrs Ago | (0)

1
0 0
Jasmine

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces?

Sunday AT 07:37 AM ET | (0)

0
0 2
Fabiola

Do you think smoking should be banned in restaurants and other public spaces?

Monday AT 11:54 PM ET | (0)

2
0 2
Ars-Vita

Should we ban smoking from public places?

Sunday AT 08:17 AM ET | (0)

2
0 1
Trung Ngoc

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces with concerns to the health effects of secondhand smoking?

Sunday AT 12:03 AM ET | (0)

1
0 0
jennifer

Should we ban smoking from restaurants and other public spaces to prevent inhalation of second hand smoke by non-smokers?

Saturday AT 03:46 AM ET | (0)

0
0 4
Caleb

Should smoking be banned from restaurants and other public spaces?

Monday AT 09:33 AM ET | (0)

4

Scroll in the box to view more responses.

Cold Call

Rewrite the following biased question to create an unbiased version of it:

Underage drinking is okay, right?

See what your peers answered

off

0 0
Alex

Should underage drinking be permitted?

18 Mins Ago | (0)

0
1 4
Nathan

do you believe that the consumption of alcohol under the age of 21 should be legal in the U.S.?

Tuesday AT 12:13 AM ET | (1)

4
0 0
Austin

Do you think underage drinking is okay?

12 Hrs Ago | (0)

0
0 1
Ashley

Should citizens under 18 years old be legally allowed to drink?

5 Hrs Ago | (0)

1
3 1
Hunter

Do You believe that Underage Drinking is a major Problem?

May 26, 2019 AT 04:47 PM ET | (3)

1
0 1
Mitchell

Is underage drinking okay?

Sunday AT 01:59 PM ET | (0)

1
0 1
Dimakatso

How do you feel about the legal drinking age?

Monday AT 08:45 PM ET | (0)

1
2 5
Gaetano Francesco

What do you think about underage drinking?

May 25, 2019 AT 01:22 PM ET | (2)

5
1 1
Olakunle

What do you think about Underage drinking?

May 26, 2019 AT 01:20 PM ET | (1)

1
1 0
Angela

What do you think of underage drinking?
or
What do you choose on underage drinking, approved or not approved?

18 Hrs Ago | (1)

0
0 1
Caitlin

Is underage drinking good or bad?

Sunday AT 05:55 PM ET | (0)

1
0 5
Andrew

Is drinking under the age of (x) acceptable?

Saturday AT 07:26 PM ET | (0)

5
1 7
Brittany

At what age do you think a person should be able to drink alcohol?

Sunday AT 12:30 PM ET | (1)

7
0 2
Manuel

Do you think it's okay for an underage individual to drink?

Sunday AT 08:56 PM ET | (0)

2
3 6
Talia

What do you think the legal drinking age should be?

Thursday AT 02:38 AM ET | (3)

6
1 7
Alfred

Is underage drinking acceptable? (It was challenging to think of substantial variations without changing the spirit of the question).

May 28, 2019 AT 11:25 PM ET | (1)

7
7 10
Jori

How do you feel about alcohol consumption for people under 21 years?

May 24, 2019 AT 06:07 AM ET | (7)

10
0 7
Mrinal

Do you think underage drinking is okay?

May 25, 2019 AT 09:37 PM ET | (0)

7
0 3
Sapna

Do you think underage drinking is okay?

Friday AT 02:51 AM ET | (0)

3
0 0
Moises

What are your thoughts on the drinking age of this country?

Tuesday AT 10:03 AM ET | (0)

0
2 6
Sudeshna

What do you think should be the right age to start drinking?

Friday AT 10:55 AM ET | (2)

6
1 5
Noor

Is underage drinking okay?
or
on a scale of 1 to 5, is underage drinking okay? 5 being yes its ok or 1 being not okay

Friday AT 02:05 PM ET | (1)

5
0 2
Riya

Do you think underage drinking is okay? Please explain your answer.

Tuesday AT 04:17 PM ET | (0)

2
3 10
Keith

Do you think underage drinking is okay?

May 23, 2019 AT 10:58 AM ET | (3)

10

Scroll in the box to view more responses.

The following describes the types of trigger points that will appear during the video. You must complete each trigger point before viewing the rest of the video.
Trigger Point Name	Location in Seconds
Poll	at 45 seconds

Trigger Point

TRANSCRIPT

Autoscroll

off

To understand the
importance of how
survey questions are phrased,
let's look at an example.
The general social survey
conducted regularly since 1972,
is designed to monitor
social attitudes and trends
in the United States.
To gain deeper
insights, the survey
often asks multiple questions
about the same issue,
but phrases them differently.
For example, the survey
asked whether Americans
think the government is spending
too much, too little, or about
the right amount on various
issues and programs.
One part of the survey asked
this question about assistance
to the poor.
Another part asked the
question about welfare.
Do you think these
questions would
elicit different responses?
Poll
The 2012 survey reports
that nearly 64% of Americans
believe that we spend too little
on assistance to the poor.
In contrast, only about
19% believe that we
spend too little on welfare.
Why are the results
so different,
even though welfare and
assistance to the poor
are so similar?
The words are
politically charged.
For many Americans, welfare has
a negative connotation compared
to assistance to the poor.
It's important to
be aware of how
subtle differences and phrasing
can affect respondents answers.

01:15

01:22

Poll completed

Suppose you are an aspiring politician thinking about running for local office. You decide to conduct a survey to get a sense of whether you actually have a chance of winning. Which method would you use?

In-person

Mail

Phone

E-mail

Text

Social Media

Why would you choose this method?

Since
 it's mostly senior citizens that vote, so I would need to use a survey 
method that reaches them (and surveying in person will bias them to say 
yes).

246 of 303 participants have responded. You may return at any time for the latest results.

Suppose you are the manager of an upscale restaurant and would like to know if your customers are satisfied with their overall experience. How would you conduct a survey?

In-person

Mail

Phone

E-mail

Text

Social Media

Why would you choose this method?

Since
 it's mostly senior citizens that vote, so I would need to use a survey 
method that reaches them (and surveying in person will bias them to say 
yes).

245 of 303 participants have responded. You may return at any time for the latest results.

Surveyors wish to get as high a response rate as possible. Low response rates can introduce bias if the non-respondent’s answers would have differed from those who responded—that is, if the non-respondents and the respondents represent different segments of the population. If we do not represent a segment of the population, then our sample is not representative of the population. If resources are limited, it is often better to take a small sample and relentlessly pursue a high response rate than to take a larger sample and settle for a low response rate. If we have a low response rate, we should contact non-respondents and try to either increase the response rate or demonstrate that the non-respondents’ answers do not differ from the respondents’ answers.

This is a graphic representation of what was stated in the previous paragraph. If you have low response rates, you should contact non-respondents. We contact non-respondents in order to increase response rates by getting more answers, or show that non-respondents do not differ from those who responded.

2.2.3 Avoiding Bias

Items

Category

Result

Cold Call

See what your peers answered

Cold Call

See what your peers answered

Cold Call

See what your peers answered

Cold Call

See what your peers answered

Cold Call

See what your peers answered

Poll submitted